After a couple of intro's and a full lesson on hovering, my 4th lesson I hoped would be a little smoother and the challenge would continue as I tried to tame the little beast a bit more and when the instructor wanted a turn here, a stop here or taxi over to there, I just might be able to resemble something that looked co-ordinated and felt like I had control over its fate.

It was definitely a bit better and it was good to "know" a bit more about what to expect and having some form of feeling for the inputs required and their results. Getting straight back into being loose and relaxing (seem to be telling myself that a lot lately) at the commencement of each flight is becoming somewhat easier and can't wait until I have that "confidence" that it will come naturally (but never too confident if you know what I mean). So after some more taxying, turns, backwards and sideways, it was time to let the skids touch the ground for my first time (sounds wierd doesn't it).

We talked about it in the briefing and when it came to doing it I think I was still more worried about obtaining a nice hover than putting the thing on the deck. I'm not sure if that was initially just trying to make it look good or thinking I'd better not break this thing. Again as with most of these early sessions I realise I'm still getting the feel for the machine and what it takes to master this art of rotary wing flying. So I got it down on the grass (phew), ok let's get it off the grass (hmmm). 18", light on the skids, eyes up and wobbly as she goes. To say the first one felt very awkward was an understatement. Being a bit tense on the cyclic, it was like I was ready to tackle the thing before it got away from me. I soon found out that's the best way of letting the thing get away from you. Gentle... now there's a word I wont forget in a hurry anytime soon. Hover over a bit, stop, down, try again, up, hover over a bit, stop, down... to the uninitiated I can appreciate it would look very wierd (has casa ever thought of having big "L" plates on the doors?). Over to the concrete... now that's a bit different, tyring to line up on the "H" is not the best idea for the first go - it didn't move around too much at least. Spent the next 5 or 10 minutes hopping around between grass and concrete and when the instructor thought I'd had enough directed me to taxi up to the school and what? you want me to put it on the pad in between those 2 other machines...ooo mama.

Got close, just needed a bit of a hand at the very end (glad I didn't have my jumper on during this flight ).